Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Monday Night Classes

We had classes here at The San Marcos School of Yoga last night. The Level 3 class learned vasisthasana, thus beginning a foray into arm balances for that group. We are almost finished with the niyamas (not finished with them because we are always to be practicing them, but finished with our discussion of them in class. Oh- For non-yoga readers, the yamas and the niyamas are kind of like the 10 commandments of yoga. The yamas are the things we are not to do- don't harm, don't lie, don't steal, don't misuse your sexuality, do not hoard. The niyamas are those things that we cultivate- cleanliness, contentment, burning zeal, self-study and surrender to the Lord) Last night we used ishvara pranidhana as a theme and talked a bit about the Remembering the Lord Within.

The Level 1 &2 class worked on Vira 1, parsvottanasana and halasana with a discussion of ahimsa (non-violence). In Patanjali's sutra he says that when we are established in ahimsa, all others abandon hostility in our presence. (Think: St. Francis of Assisi who was so peaceful that animals flocked to him knowing no harm would come to them. Or think of your best friend who has no ill will to you and how you immediately relax in their presence. Like that.)

We had a new student, Donna, come level 1&2 class last night. She has moved recently to the Wimberly area from Dallas, where she was student of Randy Just who has an Iyengar Yoga studio there. So that was fun. She said it was so different not to have a teacher who yells all the time. I told her that many of my students actually do think that I yell. She said, "Well compared to Randy you were very sweet!" She was not complaining, she loves Randy and his teaching and she was obviously well-trained (with very precise blanket folding techniques and you all know how much I like that). So anyway, just so you guys know, the yelling could be worse. I am, evidently, sweet by comparison to some...

Anyhoo-- I am going to try to post a bit more often since I found out that my mother checks my blog every morning. (HI MOM!)

1 comment:

Oh, no, I don't think you yell at all! I think it's fair for you to expect a lot of effort from your students when you are putting a lot of effort into teaching them. I love to observe how different teachers' personalities infuse their teaching styles. My first experience with yoga was in Germany, in an Iyengar class taught, as you would expect, in German. At times, when I go into Down Dog, I can still hear Joerg barking, "In den HUND gehen!"

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